News

A magician added a sense of fun and amazement to the annual Presentation of Awards evening held on Firiday evening at the Cardiff City Stadium to celebrate another successful year for Cardiff AAC.

Presenting the awards were special guests, Paralympian Steve Morris and club captain and Great Britain Olympian Brett Morse as well as representatives of Run and Become sports shop who support the Athlete of the Month awards.

With the annual presentation evening taking place tomorrow, it is a good time to look back over the track and field season.

2016 was a very good year for Cardiff AAC with many successes for both teams and individuals.

The highlight was Jake Heyward winning the European Under 18 championship 1500m gold medal (hopefully the first of many) but let's not forget Bethan Davies who dominated British women's walking and was unlucky not to have been selected for the Olympic Games in Rio.

The 2016 Cardiff AAC Annual Presentation of Awards Evening will be held on Friday of this week (18th November) starting at 7.00pm. We shall again be at the Cardiff City Stadium (entrance off Leckwith Road), which was so successful as a venue last year and where there is plenty of parking space.

Cardiff's Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be there to present awards so you can have your photograph taken with Aled Davies, Steve Morris, Kevin Seaward and Charlotte Wingfield.

With the second round of the Gwent League in Brecon on Saturday, the Cross Challenge in Milton Keynes the same day and an international in Spain, Cardiff AAC had athletes competing in all three.

Clashes as well as illnesses meant that numbers at the Gwent League were down on the first round but there was still much to celebrate as the South Wales regional championships were incorporated and Cardiff athletes did well, with Jess Wadey, Morgan James, Bethan Evans, Jac Smith, Lucy Marland and Carwyn Jones all winning gold medals.

While his team mates were racing over the country Cardiff's Mike Kallenberg was representing Great Britain on Friday in the world 50k road race championships in the heat of Doha, where he finished an excellent sixth, a placing which improved both his position and time from last year’s 50k championships. Following an assured performance, 25-year-old Mike commented: "That was really tough tonight but I'm happy with my run and delighted that we are coming home with a silver medal."

Meanwhile, back on the country, the Cross Challenge took place on Saturday in Milton Keynes. The best performance came from Ryan Edwards in the under 13 boys' race where he finished an excellent second. The under 13 girls' race saw Eden Williams finish in eighth place while Nia Clatworthy was 14th in the under 15 girls' event.

A good turn out at the combined Welsh Athletics and Welsh Schools combined event championships at Cardiff's NIAC last Sunday, 6th November, included numerous Cardiff AAC athletes in the various age groups.

Taking gold medals were Lauren Evans in the under 18 girls' category and Luca Contino in the under 16 boys. Silver medallists were Evie Wong, Daniel John and Harri Wheeler-Sexton with Harvey Reynolds taking a bronze.

At the AGM of Welsh Athletics, held in Llandrindod Wells yesterday, Cardiff AAC chairman Bernie Plain MBE was elected as one of seven non-executive directors of the board of directors of Welsh Athletics. Alongside Bernie Christian Malcom and Dr Nicky Lewis were also elected.

Bernie said that he is proud to be able to serve Welsh athletics in this way and will regard himself as a voice for all clubs in Wales.

During the meeting a number of awards was announced and these include Meritorious Awards for Arwyn Davies and Bernie Plain and Awards of Honour for Kath Elias and Rhys Williams.

A week after the first round of the Gwent League, Cardiff's cross country runners travelled to Monmouth for the second edition of the Welsh Cross Country relay championships.

Despite late withdrawals from the junior teams, Cardiff had a successful day, returning with three championship titles (under 17 men and women and senior women), two runner up places and one third place.